The ancient Chinese seem to have had a number of names for the alcohols they produced. The Oracle Bone script (甲骨文; China’s earliest systematic writing) of the late 2nd millennium BC and inscriptions on bronze vessels of the early 1st millennium BC mention (with modern pronunciation but original meaning): 
•    酒 (jiu, today's sake or “strong beer”), 
•    醨 (li, thin alcoholic beverage), 
•    醴 (li, “made-overnight alcoholic beverage”), and 
•    酪 (lao; fermented milk). 
Other related characters from that period include: 
•    酉 (you; wine vessel), 
•    酋 (qiu; master brewer), 
•    酗 (xu; to get angry when drunk), 
•    醜 (chou; to be embarrassed [presumably through drink]), 
•    酸 (suan; acid), what brewers are left with if the fermentation process is not stopped after alcohol is produced, 
•    醯 (xi; vinegar used for pickling), 
•    醫 (yi; potion/physician), 
•    and the interesting case of 配 (pei; to match). 
This last word was long interpreted as a contraction of 酒色 (jiu-se, literally “wine color”), indicating the flush on the face caused by wine. But earlier forms of the character discovered on Oracle Bones show a person kneeling next to a wine vessel, interpreted as depicting a marriage ceremony anointed by wine and thus taking on the meaning “to mate.”
 
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